2011-01-04 - A Fire and a Slight Misunderstanding
It's a fairly nice January evening, and Elizraim has decided to go for a trip back down to that odd Karaoke place again. (After all, bringing real music to the poor, wretched souls who frequent that place is simply eir duty.) The fact that ey still has no actual knowledge of modern music is incosequential--ey picked it up easily enough last time, so ey figures ey can do that here as well. Or maybe ey'll just up and sing something ey wrote. It'll be better anyway. As ey nears the L'esprit, however, eir steps slow a bit, and ey looks about, finally settling on a point in the distance, thinking, Fear? From...what is that light? Is that smoke? Terra Black doesn't quite catch all of Elizraim's thoughts. She just catches enough. Extending her own empathic senses outwards, she hesitates, not yet entering the karaoke bar. That does, indeed, look like smoke. Sniff. Does it also smell like smoke? Yes, indeed it does. Looks like there's a good sized fire going on over there. There's fear--small number of people, but a high level. Not many are involved, but those who are might be in grave danger. Elizraim frowns, giving serious consideration to just trying to ignore it and going singing, but finally looks at Terra. "I should like to investigate this further, though it may mean a delay in the night's entertainment. Have you any objection?" Terra Black shakes her head. "Do you have a means to extinguish or control flame? I don't." She's just changing course. So far, nobody's noticed them or at least made any indication that they have. Which might not be a coincidence. Elizraim shakes eir head. "No." Ey follows her course. As they get nearer, they can see the source of the blaze--a four-story building, already burning brightly. There's no sign of firemen around yet. Several people have gathered outside--some clearly from inside the blaze, given the burn marks and coughing, and others from neighboring buildings providing aid. "It appears that there are still two people within the building," Elizraim says, frowning. "No...three. Two on the first floor, and one on the fourth." Ey looks to Terra. "Mortals are quite vulnerable in such a situation--is this not so? I think it unlikely that they shall survive until the watch arrives with aid." Terra Black nods. "Hold on." Into an alleyway, real quick...because she really needs to be in costume for this. Very, very quick. "Two in the storefront, ground floor, I see them. The rest I'll have to find the same way you did. How's your heat tolerance?" Elizraim follows her in, also changing into his costume, and pulling on a mask. "I suspect I shall resist better than they, though I do not particularly enjoy time within raging infernos. I shall recover, however." If she's paying attention, she might now notice something--ey's extending eir empathic abilities to the people most filled with fear and worry in the area--especially those still trapped inside, and appears to be drawing something from them. "I am capable of flight. I shall attempt the rescue of the one on the fourth floor." Ey gives a shudder. This...intensity...more power than I was expecting. Yes...this will do. Terra would note that whatever ey's drawing off doesn't actually appear to be affecting the emotions of the people at all. Terra Black nods. "So will I. Flight I can't do. I'll go after the two in the store front." Mask on, she breaks into a run, charging right into the inferno. A normal building fire should not, really, be hot enough to damage even a halfbred Havenim, although it might reach uncomfortable levels. Depends on what's burning in there, but that's the risk she has to take. Behind her, she would feel a strange sensation--a focusing of that odd energy being drawn off by Elizraim. If she looks back, she'll catch a glimpse of the wings extending...but there's something odd about it this time. Does ey look...bigger? And there's something else, something uncomfortable...but then, in a flash, ey's taken off, clearing the distance to the building swiftly. People on the street gasp briefly as Terra runs by, but their attention is soon stolen by the flying thing, as they point, their expressions turning to fear at the thing flying above them. Elizraim ignores them, as the spear flows into eir hands, and ey searches the building for the best entry point. Finding a weakened door near eir target, ey strikes it, breaking it and flying inside. Terra can very likely sense em cursing, but ey doesn't seem to be in severe distress. The heat inside, for Terra, is not enough to break through her defenses, though it certainly feels awful. As she fights through the smoke, she can see the mother and infant, the mother huddled protectively over the small one. The mother's leg is pinned...the rubble looks movable, but she's in a poor position to do it herself, especially with the rubble being partially ablaze itself. As Terra enters, she looks up, screaming to her. "Help! Please help! My baby--save my baby!" "No," Terra murmurs. "I'm saving both of you." She's already working on moving the rubble, tossing it to the side. She doesn't seem at all concerned about being burned...her costume might suffer, but so far there's no visible damage to her skin, although it's rather like taking a too-hot shower. "But...but..." the woman says, but silences at Terra removes the rubble. Once it is loose enough, she manages to pull her foot free. From the looks of things, though, she's sustained some injuries to her leg and foot--something may be broken. "Hold on to your baby. Tightly." Because that will make it much easier for Terra to scoop them both up and carry them out into the street. The woman's injured. They both have smoke inhalation, and that's likely to be worse for the child's smaller lungs. The woman, silent now, is trying to be strong for her child. She looks shocked as she's lifted up, but clutches her baby to her, keeping it safe. "Thank you...thank you..." she whispers, as they finally make it out of the building. At about the same time, a shout is heard from the upper floor. "Silence, you insolent whelp! Be silent at once! Cease this struggling!" A spear shatters a window, and a winged form bursts forth from it. Elizraim, carrying a girl about 6 or 7 years old, who is struggling in utter terror. For a moment, Terra can see why--Elizraim's appearance is not that of a small, costumed hero. He's bigger--perhaps around 15, at a guess--and more importantly, ey looks like...well, like whatever the equivalent of a demon would be to the Havenim, dressed appropriately for that...the humans must be seeing something similar. A moment to focus, and Terra can banish that illusion--seeing only the 15-year-old Elizraim, wearing a superhero outfit meant for his 12-year-old self. Ey curses to emself in eir own tongue, and wings to the ground, landing by Terra--all the humans nearby step back, though one brave soul scoops up a piece of wood from the rubble and stands before the others, brandishing it. "Damnable mortals," Elizraim says. "Know you not when aid is given?" Ey carefully sets the child down on the ground, stepping back. The girl has burns, but is conscious, quickly scrambling back away from Elizraim and bursting into tears. Elizraim emself has several burns, eir costume a bit torn up and scalded. Terra Black is going to have to talk to Elizraim about that. Whether or not its something she can control. But for right now, she's carefully setting the mother and baby down outside the range of the fire, focusing on healing as much of the damage as she can before the EMTs get here. That's more important than Elizraim's issues. Especially as ey can fly. "Get back!" the man with the weapon says. "Get back, you...you..." Elizraim stands eir ground, glaring back at the man, then down at the sobbing child, and then looks over at Terra. Ey taps the butt of his spear on the ground a couple times. "Very well. My presence appears to disturb you foolish mortals...thus, I shall leave this place." Eir wings flap, lifting em into the air. "Be swift...I hear the watch approaching." Indeed, sirens can be heard in the distance, as ey angles off over the rooftops. And as the sirens sound, Terra ducks off into an alleyway, grabbing both of their clothes on the way past and then following Elizraim's mental signature. Just, oh, follow the static. Ey isn't far. Ey's set down on a rooftop a short distance away, out of sight of the scene of the fire. The spear is back in bracer form, and ey's shrunk back to eir normal height, though the wings are still out and that uncomfortable feeling still surrounds em. Any human who saw em would probably still be seeing demon...just a smaller one. Terra Black comes lightly up the fire escape. "Do you have to look like you escaped from Hell?" She doesn't sound angry. Almost...somehow...amused. Elizraim blinks, looking over at her. Hard to tell eir expression with the mask on, but the body language reads confused. As does the tone of voice. "Of what do you speak?" Ey looks at emself, then back at her. "I do not believe that I understand your meaning." "You did something to your aura, and its making normal people see a demon." She knows Elizraim is not a demon from hell. Elizraim stands, suddenly, clearly alarmed. "What?" Ey steps quickly up to her, crossing eir arms. "A...but I am not..." Ey shakes eir head. "I...I have never heard such a thing before. Within my realm, I often summoned my powers...never was there a single word about a demon!" Ey stomps eir foot. "The scandal that would have been! I am certain I would have heard." "Well, that would probably because your people don't see it. It affects me...a little. But it obviously affects humans more." Probably because the average person has the psionic resistance of a cuttlefish. Elizraim hmphs. "This world is somehow responsible for this indignity, of that I am quite certain. Me...a demon? Hah!" Ey shakes eir head. "I shall investigate this...else it may become a danger." A pause, and ey points a finger at her. "And to speak of indignity...what manner of poorly-made trash have you given to me for a disguise?" "Hrm. If you don't like it, we'll change it. I went through like four designs. And here." She tosses Elizraim eir street clothes. Elizraim pulls off eir mask, frowning deeply. "It is not the design of which I speak! This does not...what is the word...function!" Ey tugs at the costume. "It became quite uncomfortable. Clearly its construction was incomplete...what good is clothing which remains one size?" Ey tugs on the street clothes over the costume. "Why, I would have been laughed out of the palace for that!" Terra Black ohs. "I didn't realize you changed your size. Most people don't...well, not that quickly, anyway." Elizraim blinks, clearly astonished. "You...you say they do not? In truth?" Ey blinks again, standing there, dumbstruck for several moments. "But...I believed...but..." Ey finishes dressing, and starts pacing. "Ridiculous. I have seen many small mortals. If they cannot become stronger, how is it then that they survive?" Terra Black brushes back her hair. "Well, we start out small, but we don't get big and then small again, we just grow." Elizraim frowns, staring at her for a few moments. "In truth? You do not mock me? No...I believe you speak truly." Ey chuckles. "What odd creatures you mortals are. It is a wonder you survive at all." Ey hmphs, placing eir hands on eir hips. "Well. I shall accept your ignorance as an excuse this time. However, I shall expect future work to be capable of fulfilling the needs of a Mioemet." Terra Black nods. "I'll talk to my dad about it. We're going to need some kind of smartcloth." Category:Logs